Association of Past Physical Education Students of I.M. Marsh College
125th Anniversary Celebration Reunion
Friday 3rd October and Saturday 4th October
This year’s reunion was a very special one as we were celebrating the 125th anniversary of the founding of the Liverpool Physical Training College in 1900 by Irene Mabel Marsh. The event was publicised on the Facebook page and the APS website with reminders and updates throughout the spring and early summer. Requests for membership and booking forms increased around May 2025 and resulted in a ‘bumper’ attendance at the reunion; many of the attendees being there for the first time.
In previous years we seem to have been fated by disruption to travel due to the closure of Lime Street on one occasion and an RMT strike on another. We thought that this was going to be a year when everything went to plan. Unfortunately, Storm Amy, the first named storm of the season, arrived on Friday with a yellow weather warning and extended its influence into Saturday. The storm brought winds of up to 96mph and disruption to the railway network. Some of those attending had difficulties getting to Liverpool on time whilst for those heading southwards on Saturday afternoon all trains to Birmingham were cancelled. In true I.M. Marsh fashion plans were rearranged to cope with the travel difficulties with one committee member taking a rather long detour and stopover via Rotherham on her way back to the Birmingham area.
Quite a few attendees arrived on Friday afternoon and groups began to gather in the bar with sounds of laughter and conversation growing as friends caught up on stories with people they had not seen for a while,
On Saturday morning people began to arrive outside the conference room and conversation and laughter continued from the night before. There were 80 attendees although a few were struggling to get there for the start due to delays on the railway network.
Our President, Barbara Graham (Holmes), welcomed everyone and outlined the programme for the day. She drew attention to the wonderful display from the Liverpool John Moores University Archive which had been brought along and displayed by Emily Parsons, Archivist and Christopher Olive, Assistant Archivist at the University. There were many photos, items of college uniform, papers and artefacts to look at and it was clear from the activity at the start of the day that people found this very interesting,
Linda Bond (Ward) started the day’s activity and introduced the “Getting to Know You’ activity with everyone being allocated to a group named after an activity such as gymnastics, swimming etc. Attendees had been asked to bring a photo of themselves at college and during the activity they had to each speak about the photo and what it showed and meant to them. There was much hilarity and noise throughout the room. The range of stories was amazing with one student (who was preparing for the Commonwealth Games) recounting how the ‘weight training room’ she had enquired about on interview and had been reassured was in existence at college, turned out to be a storage room at the back of the sports hall!
Many funny stories emerged as these were shared with the whole group. All those attending had the opportunity to donate their photographs to the LJMU Archive to represent a record of the ‘student experience ‘at college.
We then moved seamlessly to sit at the pre-arranged tables to prepare for the AGM. Miraculously, there did not seem to be any hitches in everyone relocating and the business of the AGM started promptly. The meeting was thorough and informative and in a very full day, business was completed in record time.
After the AGM Julie Webb (Turton) , Past President of APS, gave a presentation on the history of APS. This was an informative and interesting presentation, giving details of how the Association was established and developed. It seemed to be very fitting to hear about the history of APS at this very special anniversary of the founding of the College.
Following this presentation, we stayed at the same tables for the formal Celebration Lunch where each member received a printed commemorative card of the 125th Anniversary Celebration. The meal was enjoyed by all and gave further opportunity for people to chat and exchange news.
The afternoon’s activity was a series of presentations covering the various eras of college and the work of the women who had major impacts on its development:
College in the time of Irene Mabel Marsh :
College in the time of Marie Crabbe :
College in the time of Margaret Jamieson :
Sarah Webb
Professor Sheila Wigmore
Win Heath
All the presentations gave insights into the leadership and inspiration that these three women brought to the development of I.M. Marsh College of Physical Education.
Sarah Green, great niece of Irene Mabel Marsh, spoke about Miss Marsh who she knew as, ‘Aunt Rene’. Sarah shared photographs and details of Irene’s upbringing and how she came to establish first the Liverpool Training College in 1900 and then later, in 1919, the move to Barkhill with all her students. She loved gardening and carried out a lot of the initial work at Barkhill herself. Sarah also talked about Irene building a holiday home at Abersoch which was called ‘The Shanty’ where sometimes both students and family would stay.
Professor Wigmore spoke about the leadership and impact of Marie Crabbe upon Liverpool Physical Training College from her appointment in May 1939.The name of the college was changed to the I.M. Marsh College of Physical Education to honour the founder, Irene Marsh following her death in 1938.
It was a fascinating talk covering the details of the Second World War years, including the impact of air raids on student life, with shelters being created in the college grounds. Miss Crabbe worked hard to keep the College functioning as well as looking after the students. Her leadership through the years 1939- 1965 had an overwhelming influence on college development, and the high standards and expectations which she insisted on were integral to every part of college life during these years.
Win Heath who was a Lecturer at College from 1975-2001 gave us a presentation about Margaret Jamieson’s time at college from 1965-1981.Although Miss Jamieson’s training was not in Physical Education, she had a wide range of experience in teaching, management and her university experience was very valuable as the College moved towards offering a degree programme. She led the College through a time of immense change in the higher education landscape and the move to I. M. Marsh College of Physical Education becoming part of Liverpool Polytechnic, which later became Liverpool John Morres University.
Following these presentations there was plenty of time for people to enjoy a light tea and spend more time with friends before they left to travel home. Many groups chose to have their photo taken under the ‘125th Anniversary Celebration’ banner. There was lots of lovely conversations and tales to remember. As one group commented:
There were several cut – out model boards which were part of the Archive display where people could have their photos taken and one group ( Nancy Bailey, Clare Blakey Williams (Blakey),Jackie Thomas (Cook), Jane Bradley(Cumming), Alison Eagle, Ann Wilson and Nikki Hazlehurst(Senior) took advantage of this (photos at the end of this section).They also gave us some feedback :
‘We enjoyed our day, especially being referred to as youngsters at 63+.We were impressed at the stamina and enthusiasm of our older peers and thought it a great advert for the PE teaching profession. We will return and hopefully be accompanied by a few more of our year. Thank you everyone for our memorable weekend.’
Planning has already begun for next Year’s APS Reunion, and we hope to see many of you again as well as some new faces.
Julie Spratt
